Bringing Out the Dead is a
1999The year 1999 in film involved some significant events and was arguably the most successful year for films released in the 1990s. Several new feature films, including Star Wars Episode I, The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, new sequel Toy Story 2, first of The Matrix, Disney's animated Tarzan,...
film directed by
Martin ScorseseMartin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe,...
, and based on the novel by
Joe ConnellyJoe Connelly is an American writer. Connelly is best known for his first novel, Bringing Out the Dead.Connelly grew up in a working class family in Warwick, New York. He dropped out of Colgate University and, before publishing his first novel, worked as a paramedic at St. Clare's Hospital in Hell's...
with the screenplay by
Paul SchraderPaul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter and film director. His influences include Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu and Carl Dreyer, whose cross-cultural similarities he examined in Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer in 1972...
. The film stars
Nicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor.Cage pursued acting as a career, making his debut on television in 1981...
,
Ving RhamesIrving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is a Golden Globe-winning American actor best known for his work in Pulp Fiction, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series .-Early life:...
,
John GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American actor. He is best known for his role on the television series Roseanne, as well as his film work with the Coen brothers.-Early life:...
,
Tom SizemoreThomas Edward "Tom" Sizemore, Jr. is an American film and television actor and producer. He is known for his roles of soldiers in war films such Saving Private Ryan, and Black Hawk Down.-Early life:...
and
Patricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress, perhaps best known as the star of the supernatural drama series Medium.-Early life and family:...
.
Frank Pierce (Cage), is a
paramedicA paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical services, who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care...
working the
graveyard shiftA graveyard shift means a shift of work running through the early hours of the morning, especially one from midnight until 8 am. See shift work.Graveyard shift may also refer to:In movies, television, and video games:...
in
Hell's Kitchen, ManhattanHell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West by real estate brokers, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that covers roughly the area between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
, a neighborhood in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, during the early-90s. It takes place over the course of three nights, each night pairing Pierce with a different partner (Goodman, Rhames, and Sizemore).
Complaining of
burn outBurnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Research indicates general practitioners have the highest proportion of burnout cases...
, Pierce suffers from
insomniaInsomnia is a symptom of any of several sleep disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease. By definition, insomnia is "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both"...
and begins having visions of a young girl named Rose who died while under his care.
Bringing Out the Dead is a
1999The year 1999 in film involved some significant events and was arguably the most successful year for films released in the 1990s. Several new feature films, including Star Wars Episode I, The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, new sequel Toy Story 2, first of The Matrix, Disney's animated Tarzan,...
film directed by
Martin ScorseseMartin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe,...
, and based on the novel by
Joe ConnellyJoe Connelly is an American writer. Connelly is best known for his first novel, Bringing Out the Dead.Connelly grew up in a working class family in Warwick, New York. He dropped out of Colgate University and, before publishing his first novel, worked as a paramedic at St. Clare's Hospital in Hell's...
with the screenplay by
Paul SchraderPaul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter and film director. His influences include Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu and Carl Dreyer, whose cross-cultural similarities he examined in Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer in 1972...
. The film stars
Nicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor.Cage pursued acting as a career, making his debut on television in 1981...
,
Ving RhamesIrving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is a Golden Globe-winning American actor best known for his work in Pulp Fiction, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series .-Early life:...
,
John GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American actor. He is best known for his role on the television series Roseanne, as well as his film work with the Coen brothers.-Early life:...
,
Tom SizemoreThomas Edward "Tom" Sizemore, Jr. is an American film and television actor and producer. He is known for his roles of soldiers in war films such Saving Private Ryan, and Black Hawk Down.-Early life:...
and
Patricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress, perhaps best known as the star of the supernatural drama series Medium.-Early life and family:...
.
Plot
Frank Pierce (Cage), is a
paramedicA paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical services, who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care...
working the
graveyard shiftA graveyard shift means a shift of work running through the early hours of the morning, especially one from midnight until 8 am. See shift work.Graveyard shift may also refer to:In movies, television, and video games:...
in
Hell's Kitchen, ManhattanHell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West by real estate brokers, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that covers roughly the area between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
, a neighborhood in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, during the early-90s. It takes place over the course of three nights, each night pairing Pierce with a different partner (Goodman, Rhames, and Sizemore).
Complaining of
burn outBurnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Research indicates general practitioners have the highest proportion of burnout cases...
, Pierce suffers from
insomniaInsomnia is a symptom of any of several sleep disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease. By definition, insomnia is "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both"...
and begins having visions of a young girl named Rose who died while under his care. Once called Father Frank for his ability to save lives, Pierce starts to fear that he will soon face another life he cannot save, and begins attempting to get fired as his visions of Rose become more frequent.
Soon, Pierce bonds with Mary (Arquette), the daughter of a heart attack victim whom he had previously saved, and who visits her father regularly at the hospital. Mary talks to Frank about her compassion toward helping others, which is shown contrasting Frank's feelings of burnout. It is through Mary that Frank is able to reconcile his feelings about Rose, and in the end, sleep, after sleeping with Mary and carrying out a mercy killing of her father.
Track listing
- "T.B. Sheets
"T.B. Sheets" is a blues-influenced song written and recorded by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, recorded for the Bang Records label in 1967 and included on his first solo album, Blowin' Your Mind!. It later appeared on the Bang compilation, T.B. Sheets...
" - Van MorrisonVan Morrison is a critically acclaimed singer and songwriter with a reputation for being at once stubborn, idiosyncratic, and sublime...
- "Janie Jones
"Janie Jones" is a song by the Clash on their eponymous debut album. The subject of the song, Janie Jones, was a famous madam in London during the 1970s and had been a pop singer during the 1960s....
" - The ClashThe Clash were an English rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk rock. Along with punk, they experimented with reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap and rockabilly...
- "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory
"You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory" is a song released in 1978 by ex-New York Doll Johnny Thunders. The title was taken from a line in “Better Living Through TV,” an episode of the TV sitcom, The Honeymooners and was written for his close friend Fabienne Shine.Considered by many his signature...
" - Johnny ThundersJohnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an Italian American rock and roll/protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter....
- "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" is a song by the American alternative rock group R.E.M. from their 1994 album Monster. It was the first single taken from the album, released three weeks later. It peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. By its success...
" - R.E.M.R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Michael Stipe , Peter Buck , Mike Mills , and Bill Berry . R.E.M. was one of the first popular alternative rock bands, and gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals. R.E.M...
- "I'm So Bored with the USA
"I'm So Bored with the USA" is a song by The Clash from their eponymous debut album.The song began life as another track, I'm So Bored With You,Related news articles: a love song written by Mick Jones. According to Keith Topping's The Complete Clash book, the song was about Jones's...
" - The ClashThe Clash were an English rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk rock. Along with punk, they experimented with reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap and rockabilly...
- "Red Red Wine
"Red Red Wine" is a song written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, that was then covered by Tony Tribe and more famously by UB40. In the song, the singer finds drinking red wine is the only way to forget a lost love.- Versions :...
" - UB40UB40 are a British reggae fusion band formed in 1978 in Birmingham, UK. The band has placed more than 50 singles on the UK charts, and has also achieved considerable international success...
- "Nowhere to Run
"Nowhere to Run" is a 1965 pop single b/w "Motoring" by Martha & the Vandellas for the Gordy label and is one of the group's signature songs. The song, written and produced by Motown's main production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, depicts the story of a woman trapped in a bad relationship with a...
" - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
- "Too Many Fish in the Sea" - The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first US #1 pop hit, "Please Mr...
- "Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am a Japanese Sandman)" - The Cellos
- "Rivers of Babylon
"Rivers of Babylon" is a song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of The Melodians in 1972, and popularized mainly by the 1978 Boney M. cover version...
" - The MelodiansThe Melodians were formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica in 1965, by Tony Brevett , Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton...
- "Combination of the Two" - Big Brother & The Holding Company
- "Bell Boy" - The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They became known for energetic live performances including the pioneering spectacle of instrument destruction...
Laserdisc release
This motion picture, along with
Sleepy Hollow, was the final feature film released on
LaserdiscThe Laserdisc is an obsolete home video disc format, and was the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially marketed as Discovision in 1978, the technology was licensed and sold as Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Videodisc, Laservision, Disco-Vision, DiscoVision, and MCA...
.
External links